Monday, March 20, 2017

A bi-weekly, non-comprehensive roundup
of news of beer and other things.

Weeks 9/1026 February - 11 March 2017

11 March 2017
Since the start of the year, off-the-premises beer sales —in supermarkets, chain stores, and chain convenience shops— are down by 1.2 percent over the same period in 2016; sales of 'craft' beer are up, but only by 1.6 percent. Data by IRI.
—Via Brewbound.

10 March 2017
The Kansas City Royals pick an official 'craft' beer 'partner' —Boulevard Brewing— a first for any Major League baseball team. Miller Lite, however, remains the team's 'official' beer, per se.
—Via Washington Post.

9 March 2017

Scott Pruitt, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, states that carbon dioxide is not a primary contributor to global warming, a statement at odds with the established scientific consensus on climate change.
—Via New York Times (9 March).

President Trump and EPA Administrator Pruitt to cut the EPA's Great Lakes Restoration Initiative by 97 percent, from $300 million to $10 million —the pollution cleanup project of the Great Lakes, the water system that contains 21% of the world's surface fresh water, a project that has bipartisan support.
—Via Michigan Live (3 March).

President Trump to cut the nation's weather satellite program —run by the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration— 22 percent, by $513 million; to cut the entire NOAA budget by 17 percent.
—Via Washington Post (3 March).

President Trump to to slash the Chesapeake Bay cleanup fund by 93 percent, from $73 million to $5 million. The Chesapeake Bay is the largest inland estuary in the lower 48 states.
—Via Washington Post (1 March).

7 March 2017
England-based international drinks conglomerate, Diageo (owner of Guinness) introduced a bill in Maryland state assembly to exclusively grant its new Maryland brewing facility for Guinness the right to sell up to 5,000 barrels of beer annually to visitors (versus current Maryland limit of 500 barrels). After backlash, Diageo begrudgingly agreed to a new bill extending the barrelage increase to all Maryland breweries...while simultaneously keeping its original, exclusive, bill in consideration. It's jarring to read "England-based" and "Guinness" in the same sentence.
—Via Baltimore Sun.

One thing you have to give craft breweries credit for is the creativity in the way they imagine flavors and bring those to fruition in their beers. You have craft brewers who are doing everything from loading their tanks and conditioning their beer with donuts to one in Oregon that sealed the tank with blueberry muffins to add the flavor to the beer. There is boundless creativity within the world of craft brewing itself and that is one of the primary drivers that makes this whole thing interesting.

“Creativity in the way ‘craft’ breweries imagine flavors and bring those to fruition” might be one thing. But, no, far from deserving credit are ‘brewers’ who toss donuts and blueberry muffins into brewery tanks: that act is a puerile farce, bereft of real imagination or brewster’s skill. And, by the way, pairing Girl Scout cookies with beer might be a lark, but it is NOT, by any stretch of a writer's imagination, the “next big thing.”
—Commentary via YFGF.

1 March 2017
An international team led by University College London scientists claim to have discovered fossils of bacteria aged 3.8 to 4.3 billion years old —the oldest fossils ever found on Earth— in the Nuvvuagittuq Supracrustal Belt (NSB), in Quebec, Canada. The Earth itself is estimated to be 4.57 billion years old.
—Via Agence France-Presse (at Yahoo News).

1 March 2017
U.S. beer drinkers select their favorite beer bar in each of the nation's fifty states plus the District of Columbia, as compiled by CraftBeer.com, the consumer arm of the [U.S.] Brewers Association.
—Via CraftBeer.com.

1 March 2017
Liquid bread for Lent. The story of Salvator, Celebrator, and dopplebock.
—Via Jeff Alworth, at All About Beer.com.